Recently Ravindra and I went to Liberty State Park one early morning to take some pictures. We got a bit late so weren't able to take any pictures with the sun just about to come up. However, we did get a few good shots with the sun streaking through the downtown New York buildings just about where the trade centers were and just about where the new freedom tower is being constructed.

These photos are taken at 16mm using the wide-angle 16-35mm lens. The important part though was using the right f-stop to get the 'starburst' effect which shows the sun streak through like a true star. You simply have to close to the smallest aperture you can get to. This lens, and most, would at least go to f/22 which is what these photos are shot at. Closed f-stop isn't such as issue -- its just that at that small an f-stop you'd need a lot of light or a very slow shutter so a tripod would probably be needed. These are shot using a tripod -- which doesn't come easy to me. I am just not a tripod person but there are times when one must use it.

An even narrower f-stop would've probably given a sharper starburst. However, that would've meant going for a narrower lens as well which would perhaps have taken away some of the drama that the wide angle provides.